COMM 4471: Communication
in Marriage and Family
Fall 2007
Theoretical Perspectives in Family
Communication Research
 Logical-Empirical (76%)
 Interpretive (20%)
 Critical (4%)
Logical-Empirical
 Reality is objective
 Purpose of theory is to discover
“objective Truth”
 Knowledge is based on empirical
testing of deductively derived
hypothesis
Interpretive
 Reality is subjective and multiple
 Purpose of theory is to understand
how subjective reality is created
 Knowledge is based on individual
experiences
Critical
 Reality is socially constructed by
those in power
 Purpose of theory is to liberate and
emancipate the powerless/oppressed
 Knowledge is based on acceptance of
ideology/dogma
Defining Family
 Structural
 by social role
 Task-Orientation
 by goals & outcomes
 Transactional
 by communication behaviors &
relationships
“Family” Properties
 Long-term commitment
 Types of relationships
 biology, law, affection
 Enmeshment in kinship networks
 Ongoing interdependence
 Institutionalization
B & B’s Definition
“a social group of two or more persons,
characterized by ongoing
interdependence with long-term
commitments that stem from blood,
law, or affection.” (p. 3)
Consequences of Definitions
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Social
Legal
Psychological
Theoretical
B & B’s Definition of
Communication
“symbol use between persons through
verbal and nonverbal means” (p. 3)
An alternative definition of
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication is any
interaction between two or more
persons who exchange
information, create meaning, and
influence each other and who
through this process create social
reality for themselves and others
and create and maintain
relationships with each other.
Social Identity Theory
 Identity is gained thru membership in
socially meaningful groups
 Individuals enact membership to
protect & support identity, esp. when
identity or group are threatened
Communication Accommodation
Theory
 Accommodation = change in
communication based on partner
 Approximation (performance, style)
 Convergence-Divergence
 Interpretability
 Discourse management
 Interpersonal Control
Assumptions of Communication
Accommodation Theory
 Accommodation affected by group
membership (i.e., SIT)
 Family relationships are intergroup
relations
 E.g., generation, gender, ethnicity
 Accommodation processes affected by
culture
Assignment
 Individually, think of a situation
where your communication can be
attributed to accommodation
processes between members of
different social groups
Assignment (cont)
 In groups, share your experiences
and discuss how well CAT explains the
behaviors and how useful CAT is in
understanding family comm.
 Consider CAT’s utility
 Types of behaviors explained
 Relevance of explained behaviors
 Relative power of alternative
explanations
Privacy Management Theory
 Private information = info one owns
 Privacy is in dialectical tension with
disclosure
 How persons manage privacy in
relationships explains much of their
behavior, esp. in families
Boundaries
 Enclose those who know private
information
 Are defined and enacted thru rules
 Boundary coordination
 Who’s linked? (is inside vs. outside)
 Parameters of co-ownership
 Permeability of boundary
Boundary Turbulences
 Processes of creating, changing, and
maintaining privacy rules
 Because they involve others, these
processes are often contentious,
conflicted, and involve trail and error
 Turbulence also occur in families
when new members join
Questions
 Why do people disclose? Why do they
keep info private?
 What are the relational consequences
of sharing or hiding private
information?
 Why is privacy management
particularly relevant for families?
Family Communication Patterns
 Associated with Shared Social Reality
 Two means to share reality (McLeod
&Chaffee)
 concept (conversation) orientation
 socio (conformity) orientation
Two Dimensions of
Family Communication
 Concept (Conversation) - Orientation
- open discussion of ideas
- family values interaction
 Socio (Conformity) - Orientation
- children’s adoption of parental
values
- family values conformity
Significance of Conversation
Orientation
 facilitates socialization of children
 increases cognitive complexity
 validates children’s opinions,
enhances self-esteem
Significance of Conformity
Orientation
 determines autonomy and
independence of children
 determines children’s decision making
Family Types
Protective
Conformity
Orientation
Laissez-Faire
Consensual
Pluralistic
Conversation Orientation
Protective Families
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High conformity, low conversation
= Baumrind’s authoritarian parents
Parents teach rules & obedience
Cold family climate / relationships
Children fail to self-regulate
Children’s adjustment dependent on
social group (family, peers)
Pluralistic Families
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High conversation, low conformity
= Baumrind’s permissive parents
Parents supportive and child centered
Warm family climate / relationships
Children fail to regulate
Children’s adjustment dependent on
own intelligence & social group
Consensual Families
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High conformity, high conversation
= Baumrind’s authoritative parents
Parents teach principles
Warm family climate / relationships
Children learn to self-regulate
Children adjust well
Laissez-Faire Families
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low conformity, low conversation
= Baumrind’s neglective parents
Parents teach few rules & obedience
Cold family climate / relationships
Children fail to self-regulate
Children’s adjustment dependent on
social group (peers)
Assignment
 In groups, determine how
Communication Accommodation or
Privacy Management would be
handled in the four FCPT family types
FCP and PMT
 Conversation orientation
 Fewer boundaries within & outside
 More boundary negotiation
 Less tension in turbulences
 Conformity orientation
 More boundaries within & outside
 More boundary rules
 More tension in turbulence
FCP and CAT
 Conversation orientation
 Less accommodation
 Power de-emphasized
 Conformity orientation
 More accommodation
 Power emphasized
Goals Plan Action
 Assumes behavior is result of
cognition
 Assumes people pursue goals
 communication is result of goal
directed cognition
Goals
 = future states one hopes to attain or
maintain
 Become interaction goals when they
require communication/coordination
 Vary in concreteness/abstractness
Goal Types
 Primary: what an interaction is about
 Secondary: other contextual goals
that constrain communication
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Identity
Conversation
Relationship
Personal resources
Arousal management
Plans and Planning
 Cognition using knowledge from
memory and interaction used to
behave to bring goals about
 Vary in complexity
 Vary in specificity
 Lead to Action = goal driven behavior
GPA and Interaction
 How does goal pursuit play out in
dyadic and/or family relationships?
 Be sure to consider primary and
secondary goals, that all parties may
pursue goals, and that all parties are
aware of that fact!
Ways of Learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Social Learning
Operant Conditioning
 Associating behavior with an outcome
through reinforcement
 Reinforcement
 positive = presence of outcome
 negative = absence of outcome
 Outcome
 positive = desirable (reward)
 negative = undesirable (punishment)
Operant Conditioning
pos.
Outcome
neg.
No
Reward
Reward
No
Punishment
neg.
Punishment
pos.
Reinforcement
Codependence
 Behavior of functional partner that
enables other’s dependency
 Enabeling behavior
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Controlling
Nurturing
Control = punishment
Nurturing = reward
Inconsistent Nurturing as Control
 Functional partner controls dependent
through intermittent nurturing
 Based on Learning Theory
 nurturing is rewarding
 withholding nurturing is used to punish
dependent (neg. reinforcement)
 intermittent rewards reinforce behavior
Assumptions of INC
 Learning Theory is accurate
 Withholding nurturing only available
punishment to functional partner
 Functional partner is “weak”:
 low self-esteem
 low Clalt
 no other resources
Conclusions re. Codependence
 Abuse & dependency of one partner
are affected by dyadic processes
 Codependents contribute to abuse &
dependency thru enabeling behavior
 Change in the codependent’s
behavior can and does effect change
in the behavior of the
abuser/dependent
Ethics of codependence
 What type of ethical concerns/insights
do you have codependency and INC?
 What’s the moral bases for these
concerns, what are its assumptions?
 Are ethical concerns valid in regard to
theories based on realism?
Narrative Performance Theory
 Critical Theory based on
phenomenology
 Empirical: world as experienced
 Eidetic: world that is possible (essential)
 Performance: behavior that constitutes
something else
 Performativity: behavior that constitutes
itself
Family Story Telling
 Strategies to perform Family:
 Content Ordering
 Task Ordering
 Group Ordering
 Strategies hierarchically ordered
 Strategies give identities, meaning,
roles, purpose to life.
Assignment
 Consider an instance of family story
telling. How was family performed in
that instance?
Systems Theory
 Wholeness: Complete
interdependence of parts
 Nonsummativity: System is more than
sum of parts
Systems Theory
 Input: The raw material used by the
system
 Throughput: The processes used to
convert input to output
 Output: The product which results
from the system's throughput or
processing
Exercise
 Goal/output
 Get you to go to bed on time
 Explain did your family accomplish
this goal (input/throughput)
Systems Theory
 Equifinality: Outcomes are not predetermined by inputs
 School achievement
 Family cohesion
Systems Theory
 Boundaries: The point where a system or
subsystem can be differentiated from its
environment or from other subsystems.
 Hierarchy: Systems interact with other
systems
 Openness: Systems do not exist in isolation
Diagram of Systems Theory
 Draw your own family system
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Where do you draw your boundaries?
What are the different subsystems?
How permeable are the boundaries?
What other systems interact?
Evaluation of Systems Theory
 Strengths
 Emphasis on whole family &
interdependence
 Clarification of role of external factors
 Weaknesses
 Complexity and interdependence make
testable hypotheses difficult or
impossible
Cybernetics
 Systems are self-regulating
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Have goals
Can perceive actual states
Compare actual state with goal
Determine deviation from goal
Engage in corrective action (feedback)
Relational Communication
 Communicators constitute systems
 Communication has 2 levels
 Content
 Relational
Relational Dialectics
 Unlike Hegelian Dialectics, no
synthetical resolution
 Dialectics are in discourse
 Most crucial in 3 dimensions
1) integration
2) certainty
3) expression
 Dialectics are internal & external
Internal & External Dialectics
INTERNAL
– Connectedness –
Separateness
– Certainty –
Uncertainty
– Openness –
Closedness
EXTERNAL
– Inclusion –
Seclusion
– Conventionality –
Uniqueness
– Revelation –
Concealment
Dialogue in Dialectics
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Dialectical flux
Constitutive process
Utterance
Aesthetic moment
Symbolic Convergence Theory
 Bridging rhetoric and social science
 Concerned with:
 Group-Identity / Cohesion
 Social Reality of groups
 Interaction Process Analyses
 Theory about leadership behaviors in
groups
 Identified process of “dramatization”
Fantasy in Group Communication
 Creative/Imaginative interpretation
that fulfills psychological/rhetorical
need
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Dramatization
Fantasy Chain
Fantasy Themes
Fantasy Types
Rhetorical Vision
Symbolic Conversion
Rhetorical Vision
F-Type
F-Theme
F-Chain
Dramatization
F-Type
F-Theme
F-Chain
Dramatization
F-Chain
Dramatization
Attachment
The Strong Bond between Infant &
Primary Care Giver
 Innate (shared with many other
animals)
 Necessary for Survival &
Development
 Characterized by Multi-Stage
Reaction to Separation
Attachment (cont.)
 Necessary for Survival &
Development
 Secure Base Function
 Save Haven Function
 Characterized by Multi-Stage
Reaction to Separation:
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Protest
Despair
Detachment
Rebound from Detachment
Ainsworth’s Attachment Styles
(determined by Strange Situation)
1. Secure
- briefly upset, then easily re-bond
2. Avoidant
- Not upset, then avoid mother
3. Anxious/Ambivalent
- very upset, then avoidant, upset & clingy
Kobak’s Attachment Dimensions
Secure
Secure
Dismissing
Preoccupied
Dismissing
Avoidant
Preoccupied
Insecure
Bartholomew’s Four
Attachment Styles
Model of Self
+
+
Model
Of Other
_
_
Secure
Preoccupied
Dismissive
Fearful
Avoidant
PCG’s Behavior and Infant’s
Attachment Style
 Reliably Available
 Secure Attachment
 Reliably Unavailable
 Avoidant Attachment
 Unreliably Available/Over Involved
 Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment
However, parenting behavior is also
determined by child behavior
Adult Attachment
Assumption that attachment system
also applies to adult romantic
relationships
Similar physiological/cognitive
foundation
Not related to parent attachment to
child
Similarities between Infant and
Adult Attachment
Effects on relationship quality
Effects on communication behaviors
 Support providing and seeking
 Conflict / problem solving
 Averse behaviors, aggression, hostility
 Avoidance
Effects on psychological well-being
Differences between Infant
and Adult Attachment
Infant
Adult
 Complementary
 Parent or Other
Adult
 Exploration System
easily
overwhelmed
 Reciprocal
 Peer & Sexual
Partner
 Separation has to
be sever to elicit
attachment-like
reaction
Attribution Theory
 Attributions= Explanations for
behavior
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internal vs. external causation
stable vs. temporary
specific vs. global
controllability of cause
 Allow for prediction & control
Attribution Theory
 Require
 “theory of mind”
 knowledge of rules relevant to context
 Assume
 People actively interpret world
 They do so rationally (logical)
Kelley’s ANOVA
 When making attributions, people
look at:
 Consistency = similar behavior in similar
situations?
 Consensus = do other people behave
similarly?
 Distinctiveness = similar behavior in
different situations
Kelley’s ANOVA (cont)
 These observations lead to judgments
about
 locus of control (internal-external)
 how reliable (stable-unstable)
 how typical (global-specific)
Typical Biases
 Fundamental attribution error
 attribute other’s behavior to internal
causes
 Explanation: Lack of knowledge
 Actor-Observer Difference
 attribute own neg. behavior externally
 attribute other’s neg. behavior internally
 Explanation: self-serving biases
Attributions and Satisfaction
In satisfied relationships:
 Positive behaviors = internal, stable,
global
 Negative behaviors = external, unstable,
local
In dissatisfied relationships:
 Negative behaviors = internal, stable,
global
 Positive behaviors = external, unstable,
local
Bases of Attributions in
Close Relationships:
 Knowledge of the Other
 Goals & Personality
 Knowledge of Self
 Goals & Personality
 Knowledge of Social Environment
 Norms & Rules
 Knowledge of the Relationship
 History, ongoing exchanges
Critical Theory
 Focus on structures & practices that:
 Oppress, disadvantage, create &
maintain inequality
 Culture, status, privileges and lives
enacting them & affected by them
 Struggle between ideologies
 Past instances of social change
 Aim is social change
Feminist Theory
 Based on believe in equality of sexes
 Central concept Gender
 Gender= social meaning of sex
 Gender is “performed,” as is sexuality
 Central Concept Patriarchy
 Society as constituted reflects interests
of men (also whites, capitalists, etc.)
 Both men & women maintain it
Foci of CFT
Inclusion in Family
Legal status of marriage
Power relations in families
Caregiving and other family
responsibilities
 What aspect of families should be
researched
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Small Group Assignment
 Read the article about children names
 Using CFT, analyze the phenomenon
and prepare to present your findings
to the class
Emotion Regulation Theory
 Regulation of negative emotions
(sadness, anger) crucial for social
competence & development
 Regulation achieved thru parents’
teaching: meta-emotions
 Regulation mediated thru physiology
(baseline vagal tone = heart rhythm)
Meta-Emotions
 Emotions about emotions
 i.e., executive function
 Two Parenting Styles
 Emotion-coaching
 Emotion-dismissing
Emotion-coaching
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Awareness of child’s emotion
Child neg. affect = opportunity
Teaching expression of emotion
Acceptance of emotions
Problem solving
Result: Child accepts emotion and
learns how to deal with them
Emotion-Dismissing
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Unaware of affect
Child neg. affect = bad situation
Teaching hiding of emotion
Dismissal of emotion
Problem solving
Result: Childs learns that emotions
are bad and is given no tools to deal
with them